Eugene Coste builds a 270-km (168-mi.) long pipeline, one of the longest and largest pipelines at that time, to carry Bow Island gas to Calgary and Lethbridge.

Natural gas wet with condensate is first discovered in the Cretaceous level at Turner Valley with the Dingman No. 1 well by Calgary Petroleum Products, the company originally founded by William Stewart Herron.

The Canadian federal government transfers control of natural gas and other natural resources to the provincial Government of Alberta through the Natural Resources Transfer Acts of 1930.

In December 1929, Mackenzie King signs natural resources transfer agreement prior to the passage of legislation in 1930. Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A10924

Oil and Gas Resources Conservation Act becomes law, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Conservation Board, now the Energy Utilities Board, is formed as the regulatory authority for all gas and oil operations.

An Act for the Conservation of the Oil and Gas Resources of the Province of Alberta Source: The Oil and Gas Conservation Act, SA 1938, c. 15

The largest gas reservoir in Canada at the time of discovery, the Jumping Pound field becomes a symbol of the need to resolve the stalemate over whether or not Alberta should export its natural gas; without adequate markets, it remains shut in until 1951.

Efforts to promote natural gas as a safe, clean alternative to coal help the market expand rapidly, and large-scale processing and pipeline projects are constructed to serve the growing market.

But of course! Gas The Modern Fuel! In the years following World War II, the development and use of natural gas skyrockets due, in part, to rigorous marketing. Source: City of Edmonton Archives, EA-275-1776

In 1952, facilities in both Turner Valley and Jumping Pound begin to convert the toxic hydrogen sulfide in sour gas into benign elemental sulfur, and by the 1970s Canada becomes the largest exporter of sulfur in the world.

The Lodgepole sour gas blowout smells up the air for weeks, highlighting a growing conflict between the desire for economic development and the need to safeguard the public.

As conventional sources of natural gas have matured and declined, the industry has increasingly focused its efforts on developing unconventional gas resources such as shale gas, tight gas and coal bed methane.

The Eternal Flames of a Fiery Furnace

Among the tales from the ancient world that seem to derive their dramatic power in part from a natural gas seep is the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It is in the Book of Daniel that the story of these three Jewish men and their encounter with a “fiery furnace” is found. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel were taken captive during the period known as the Babylonian exile when Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, besieged Jerusalem. These men had impressed Nebuchadnezzar and so had been promoted to administrative positions despite their having remained faithful to their Jewish beliefs. Nonetheless, when Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego refused to bow down in worship of a nine-storey tall golden statue Nebuchadnezzar had ordered built, the king became enraged. Their explanation that they could not worship his idol due to their devotion to their God did nothing to calm Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered them cast into a “fiery furnace,” where he fully expected them to perish. According to the biblical account, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were rewarded for their devotion to God with divine intervention that permitted them to emerge from the furnace unharmed. Their guards, however, fell victim to the force of the heat and flames and died at the mouth of the furnace.

Some scholars believe that the “fiery furnace” of Judeo-Christian scripture was, in fact, Baba Gurgur, a natural gas seep near Kirkuk, Iraq. According to some estimates, the eternal flames at Baba Gurgur have been burning for over 4,000 years, although locals will claim that they have been burning since life began. While we will never know just when these gas seeps first ignited, what is clear is that Baba Gurgur burns atop one of the world’s richest oil fields. In 1927, when the first well was spudded in here, it took ten days to bring the oil that erupted from it under control. Until 1948, it carried the distinction of being the largest oil field in the world.

In the centuries that intervened between

the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and the reign of the oil derricks, Baba Gurgur came to be considered something of a holy place, a place pilgrims, especially women hoping to be blessed with children, would visit in order to make sacrifices and pray for divine favour. To determine whether or not such favour had been granted, these pilgrims would scratch the ground, hoping flames would erupt to signal that their wishes would be granted. Today’s understanding that these flames indicate the almighty power of petroleum rather than divine incandescence has served to elevate the site’s significance, making it a hot-point of contention in the re-shaping of the Middle East.